Mobile Website Development: Tips and Tricks from the Trenches

We’ve been kicking the tires and lighting a few fires in the mobile world here at Upward Brand Interactions in Columbus.  With mobile internet browsing expected to eclipse desktop browsing by 2014 and smart phones proliferating like bunnies, it’s an important trend for your business to consider.

Here are a few tips, ideas and observations to help you on your way to a great mobile marketing strategy:

1. Mobile vs. Web

Consider what is different about your clients’ use of a mobile site vs. your corporate website. While online they may want to read pages of descriptive copy, on a mobile platform, less is more. While speed of internet keeps increasing, huge photos and long pages can affect load time – and you’ve already lost your customer’s attention.

2. Time and Place Utility

What instant info does your customer need on their phone? Driving directions to your office? An interactive map of various buildings on your campus? Phone numbers for all the key offices and leadership?

3. Give Them a Choice.

Anyone with a tablet (iPad, Xoom, etc) will tell you how annoying it is to be automatically routed to the mobile version of a site when the full version looks fine and the mobile version doesn’t even fill the screen. Or, to be on a mobile site and be looking for very specific information that’s only on your corporate website. Your users should always be able to choose to go to the full site version.

4.  Make it Easy.

User interface design changes when you’re using a finger instead of the point of a mouse. For great mobile web design, keep your buttons big, headings clear and if selections (dropdowns, check boxes) are required to get the customer the info they need, size it for adult hands, not small children or Santa’s elves.

5.  Be Prepared to Adapt.

Planning for cross-browser compatibility is hard for the development community, given the pace of change and how many updates happen across multiple browsers, each with different versions in use at once. (I sometimes want to play the “ding dong the witch is dead” song from The Wizard of Oz whenever someone tells me they finally got off Internet Explorer 6.) For mobile web browsing, the pace is crazy faster. With so many new phones coming on the market with new technology at any given time, it’s nearly impossible to stay caught up. Just plan to make more tweaks to your mobile site over time as more and better mobile browsers emerge.

Interested in what a mobile website could do for your business? Talk to us.